Wide-eyed, leather-clad, here's to all the fun I had!

As I was unpacking my things four years ago, my roommate pulled out his poster of a man dressed in leather with a riding crop in one hand and a leather pride flag in the other. He was International Mister Leather (IML) 2000, Mike Taylor. I was so fascinated by the idea of different countries of men brought together by leather. At 22, I thought I knew everything about my sexuality. Boy, was I wrong!

I had my first IML experience last year while volunteering for the Center on Halsted. Our booth was right next to the booth selling S&M Christmas ornaments. This was great because it would be just the thing to send to my bible thumping mother back home. I made a note to buy one before the day ended. A bunch of us went exploring the expo, browsing the wares that catered to every fetish known to man. I tried the vacuum bed. It's a device similar to a giant ziploc bag with a breathing tube for the mouth. The air is sucked out and you're left encased between two layers of silicone sheeting while people come up and touch your naughty parts. It was one of the most intriguing experiences of my life.

That year I also got in good with a group of Polish and German uniform fetish men. A lot of them were dressed in police uniforms, so I went to Dunkin Donuts to get them some goodies. They were so grateful that they let me sit with them and play with their night sticks. I even got to wear a uniform for an hour.

I made out like a bandit this year, scoring free stuff left and right. I tried a variation on an experiment where a man wrote 100 letters to 100 companies, telling them how much he enjoyed their product so he could see what kind of free stuff they'd send him. I was telling the vendors about how great this product was and how great that lube worked during marathon sex sessions. A lot of them were so impressed by my knowledge of the obscure details about certain fetishes that they hooked me up with some great stuff. My big prize this year was a vibrating dildo.

It was then that I realized that my party boy days in Houston were just a glint compared to the world I was seeing now. I thought I'd seen it all on the dance floors and the bars, but that is just a small facet of my sexuality. It's kind of a humbling experience, knowing that there's so much more out there to learn about when it comes to the different lifestyles and sexual preferences in the world. I invited my mother to come to next year's IML market. We'll see just how strong that heart of hers is.